This module examines the history of popular movements in Britain in the period of the industrial revolution and its aftermath. It considers the social effects of industrialisation upon living standards, gender relations, the labour process and class structures. The module then examines the various popular movements and ideologies that developed from this context. These include the Corresponding Societies of the 1790s, industrial movements such as Luddism and trade unionism, Owenism and early socialism, Chartism, radicalism and feminism. A range of questions will be explored: How revolutionary were such movements, and why did Britain escape the revolutionary convulsions that affected other European countries? What were the main ideological characteristics of these movements? Is it possible to perceive ideological continuities through the period? To what extent were such movements ‘national’ and how did various parts of the British Isles relate to one another through them? The module will take a four nations approach to explore the startling dynamics of this period of upheaval in a variety of contexts.

• Demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the development and nature of industrial society in Britain during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
• Demonstrate wide and systematic knowledge of the history of popular movements and radical ideas in Britain in the period 1789-1880.
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of historiographical debates concerning the industrial revolution and its social and political impact in Britain.
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the development of the historiography of popular movements in Britain in this period.
• Evaluate the various historiographical approaches to both industrialisation and the history of popular movements in Britain in this period.
• Conceptualise and pursue a ‘four nations’ approach to the study of this field.
• Evaluate and interpret selected examples of both primary and secondary material relating to this field.

A range of teaching methods will be used in each of the sessions of the course, comprising a combination of lectures, seminar discussion of major issues and workshops for the study of primary source material. The syllabus is divided into a series of major course themes, then sub-divided into principal topics for the study of each theme.

Lectures:

The aim of the lectures is to provide a brief introduction to a particular topic, establishing the salient features of major course themes, identifying key issues and providing historiographical guidance. The lectures aim to provide a basic framework for understanding and should be thought of as useful starting points for further discussion and individual study. Where appropriate, handouts and other materials may be distributed to reinforce the material discussed.

Seminars:

The primary aim of the sessions will be to generate debate and discussion amongst course participants, focused on specific issues. Seminars for each of the course topics will provide an opportunity for students:

(a) to discuss topics or issues introduced by the lectures,

or(b) to discuss related themes, perhaps not directly addressed by the lectures, but drawing on ideas culled from those lectures.

Seminars will provide the student with guidance on how to approach critically the various interpretations and historiographic debates in this field. Seminars will provide an opportunity to discuss and debate issues with fellow students.

Importantly, Welsh medium seminars will provide an opportunity for students to rehearse discussion and debate through the medium of Welsh, focusing upon the development of specific vocabulary and issues of relevance to Welsh speaking students.

By the end of the module students will be better able to:

• Assimilate and evaluate information and knowledge, using relevant research techniques and technology.
• Articulate and communicate ideas and arguments effectively, with supporting evidence, orally and in writing.
• Modify and develop, as well as defend, their own intellectual position.
• Work effectively, both independently and as part of a team, to manage their own workload and use of time.
• Think critically and challenge assumptions, particularly in relation to secondary historical sources.
• Evaluate, analyse and interpret selected primary historical source material.
• Where appropriate, discuss complex issues relating to the topic through the medium of Welsh.

Students will be assessed by means of a combination of one 1000 word assessed essay [15%], one 2000 word assessed essay [35%] and one two-hour unseen written examination paper in which the student will answer two questions [50%].

Course assignments:

1. Assessed Essay 1will contribute 15% of the final mark for the module. It is designed to give students the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to review evidence, draw appropriate conclusions from it and employ the formal conventions of scholarly presentation. It must be no longer than 1,000 words (excluding empirical appendices and references).
2. Assessed Essay 2will contribute 35% of the final mark for the module. It is designed to give students the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to review evidence, draw appropriate conclusions from it and employ the formal conventions of scholarly presentation. It must be no longer than 2,000 words (excluding empirical appendices and references).
3. The Examination will take place during the second assessment period [May/June] and will consist of an unseen two hour paper that will contribute the remaining 50% of the final mark for this module. Students must write 2 answers in total.

Lectures (Delivered in English):

1. The Industrial Revolution: Concept and Historiography.
2. Consequences of Industrialism: Living Standards and the Labour Process.
3. Consequences of Industrialism: Social Class and Gender
4. E.P. Thompson and The Making of the English Working Class: Influences, interpretation, criticism and responses.
5. The Impact of The French Revolution.
6. The Movement for Electoral Reform 1790s -1832.
7. Industrial Protest: Luddism, Machine Breaking, The Scotch Cattle.
8. Rural Protest: ‘The Crowd’, Swing and Rebecca.
9. Early Trade Unionism.
10. Owenism and Early Socialism.
11. Anti Corn Law Agitation.
12. Chartism (I): Origins and Development
13. Chartism (II): Leadership and National Organisation.
14. Chartism (III): The Rank and File and The Regions
15. After Chartism (I): The Workshop of the World, Mature Industrialism and the Labour Aristocracy.
16. After Chartism (II): Trade Unionism, Radicalism, the Second Reform Act and the Background to the Socialist Revival.

Seminars (delivered in English and Welsh):

1. A Four Nations Approach to Industrialisation.
2. Class, Gender and the Industrial Revolution.
3. Religion and Industrial Society.
4. The Threat of Revolution.
5. A Four Nations Approach to Radical and Labour History.
6. Ireland and British Radicalism.
7. A Welsh Radical Tradition?
8. Industrialism, Radicalism and Language.
9. The Land Question in British Radicalism

Malcolm Chase, The People’s Farm: English Radical Agrarianism 1775-1840 (1988).

Malcolm Chase, Chartism: A New History (2007).

Gregory Claeys, Citizens and Saints: Politics and Anti-Politics in Early British Socialism (1989).

Anna Clark, The Battle for the Breeches: Gender and the Making of the British Working Class (1997).

James Epstein and Dorothy Thompson (eds.), The Chartist Experience: Studies in Working Class Radicalism and Culture, 1830-1860 (1982).

David J.V. Jones, Before Rebecca (1974).

David J.V. Jones, Rebecca’s Children: A Study of Rural Society, Crime and Protest (1989).

David J.V. Jones, The Last Rising: The Newport Insurrection of 1839 (1985).

Iain McCalman, Radical Underworld: Prophets, Revolutionaries and Pornograhers in London, 1795-1840 (1988).

Iorwerth Prothero, Artisans and Politics in Early Nineteenth Century London: John Gast and his Times (1979).

Edward Royle, Chartism (1996).

Edward Royle, Revolutionary Britannia? Reflections of the Threat of Revolution in Britain, 1789-1848 (2000).

John Rule, British Trade Unionism 1750-1850: The Formative Years (1988).

Dorothy Thompson, The Chartists (1983).

E.P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class (1963).

Ryland Wallace, Organise!,Organise!,Organise!: A Study of Reform Agitations in Wales, 1840-1886 (1991).

Ivor Wilks, South Wales and the Rising of 1839: Class Struggle as Armed Struggle (1984).

Gwyn A. Williams, The Merthyr Rising (1978).

D.G. Wright, Popular Radicalism: The Working Class Experience (1988)